› added 4 months ago

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TIL that the record for most lunar orbits is shared by Apollo 17 astronaut Ronald Evans and five mice brought on the mission. The mice, named Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, and Phooey, were euthanized and dissected upon their return.

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klME TIL that East Germany lives on - as a tiny island off Cuba. In 1972, Fidel Castro gifted the island to East Germany. The island was not addressed in the 1990 reunification, and as such is still technically East German territory, even though the nation no longer exists.
Ookmg TIL that because of crossover episodes and references between NBC programs, Cheers, Fraiser, Seinfeld, Caroline in the City, Friends, Law & Order and How I Met Your Mother are all part of a shared television universe.
0w1MM TIL that a retired U.S. Army sergeant and Vietnam veteran became the first paralyzed American to successfully finish the New York City Marathon. She used a robotic exoskeleton device to complete 26.2 miles over 3 days.
VBQGD TIL Devin Gaines earned five bachelor's degrees simultaneously in five years from the University of Connecticut. He completed 276 credits and graduated in May 2007. Just two months later in July, he drowned in a gravel pit quarry while swimming with friends.
WKOY TIL the Soviet Union promoted junk science to such an extent that it spawned a new word - “Lysenkoism” - which is used metaphorically to describe the manipulation or distortion of the scientific process as a way to reach a predetermined conclusion as dictated by an ideological basis.